To hear Lamar Alexander tell it, you'd think wind power caused the Great Plague and the Great Depression.

Last Friday, the coal-state senator issued a mighty diatribe against renewable energy from the air, doing so, ironically, as he introduced the "Environmentally Responsible Wind Power Act of 2005."

In warning his colleagues away from a renewable portfolio standard that would require power companies to produce 10 percent of their electricity from such sources (including solar, hydro, geothermal and biomass) by 2025, Alexander said that the only way to reach that goal would be to build 100,000 windmills in the U.S. over the next two decades. The $3.7 billion that would cost the taxpayers in subsidy payouts would be better paid out, in part, to coal companies, he said.

The senator from Tennessee suggested instead "loan guarantees to help launch a dozen new clean coal gasification plants" and "research and redevelopment on the recapture of carbon that might be produced by coal plants," among other options.

Beyond his financial concerns, Alexander sees wind towers as a blot on the escutcheon of America the Beautiful. Winning no points for his country's creativity, he ranted that "the wholesale destruction of the American landscape is not an incidental concern. The Great American Outdoors is an essential part of the American character. Italy has its art. Egypt has its pyramids. England has its history. And we have the Great American Outdoors." And the Neanderthals had their caves.

Yet, Alexander's ragtime bunk notwithstanding, the legislation he's proposing with Sen. John Warner of Virginia has elements worth debating, including

• a requirement that wind-farm developers file with the Federal Energy Regulation Commission, which would then give "the local authority with zoning jurisdiction" 120 days to support or oppose the project. If the answer is negative, the proposal could still go forward but with market restrictions that might reduce its feasibility. The law would "sunset" after seven years, giving communities that time to get zoning in place.

• the elimination of tax subsidies for any windmill within 20 miles of a World Heritage Area (a designation, Alexander noted, that includes many national parks); a military base or "offshore."

Even though the roots of the senator's proposals are soot-covered, it's clear that the wind industry, especially its offshore developments, needs to be overseen by more than the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and a federal agency checklist. In fairness, we'll give Alexander the last word:

"While we debate the merits of so much subsidy and reliance on wind power, we should at the same time protect our national parks, our shorelines and other highly scenic areas, and we should give American citizens the opportunity to protect their communities and landscapes before it is too late."

EFM
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